Pinot Noir All Month Long: Famous Annual Wine Event Goes Virtual

published in the Montecito Journal on 3/4/21

Each year, pinot noir lovers have the first weekend in March highlighted on their calendars. It is, after all, a weekend usually dedicated to the World of Pinot Noir, the annual gathering of winemakers and wine consumers feting Burgundy’s most famous red grape. The event launched in 2001 and, since 2014, has been held at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Goleta, drawing more than 3000 thirsty oenophiles from all over the world.

This year, of course, Covid-19 had different plans for WOPN (pronounced Whoppin’ by those in the know): no mingling with winemakers, no hands-on tastings, no sit-down dinners. Creativity prevails, though, And technology delivers.

This year, World of Pinot Noir is claiming the entire month of March, and it’s going entirely virtual. “Attendees often say they’d love even more content and more opportunities for intimate experiences with winemakers,” says Laura Booras, CEO of Riverbench Vineyards in Santa Maria and president of the WOPN Board of Directors. “This year, we actually have an opportunity to grow these opportunities.”

As WOPN goes from in-person to online, consumers will have several chances every week this month to get up close and personal with pinot noir – and all via live events broadcast across Zoom, Instagram and Facebook. Wednesdays, for example, are dedicated to the WOPN Wine Case Experience, where guests buy a case of rare, handpicked pinots and then join a 30-minute Zoom chat each week at 5pm for a guided tasting and discussion. The 12-bottle compilation ($600, with a retail value of $800) features tough-to-get-your-hands-on finds from regions all over the globe; some of the California standouts include Brewer-Clifton’s 2016 Machado Vineyard Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir, a 93-point winner from Wine Spectator, and Eden Rift’s 2018 Landsdale Cienega Valley Pinot Noir, christened with 94 points by Robert Parker. The series is hosted by Master Sommelier David Glancy, founder of the San Francisco Wine School.

Thursdays feature deep-dive tasting seminars that highlight the growing zones behind some of California’s best pinot noir wines, including famed Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley and vineyards of the Santa Lucia Highlands near Monterey. The March 18^th seminar spotlights Sonoma’s diverse sub-regions, like the Russian River Valley and the Petaluma Gap, through a winemaker panel and a tasting of wines that guests pre-order for home delivery, including Banshee, La Crema and EnRoute. Seminars range in price from $150 to $295, depending on the wine brands featured.

Free events include discussions and winemaker Happy Hours every Wednesday at noon via Facebook Live and every Friday at 5pm via Instagram Live. There’s an online charity auction, too, which gives consumers access to a remarkable selection of hard-to-access bottles; lots include bottles of prized pinots, including magnums, from labels like Paul Lato, Calera, Goldeneye, Kosta Browne and Ampelos. According to the WOPN website, part of the auction proceeds “will be donated to non-profit institutions and/or scholarships that help further educate and enlighten the world about the storied pinot noir grape.”

To register as a bidder, and for more information on WOPN 2021, check out worldofpinotnoir.com.

WOPN is an international affair to be sure, tapping into the unique allure of pinot noir, with its dependably eclectic aromatics, its complex flavor profile and awesome ability to match most any meal. It makes sense, though, that it would be hosted by Santa Barbara. The grape, native to Burgundy and with cultivation dating back to the 4^th century, is grown all over, most prominently in California, France and Germany. But Santa Barbara County enjoys a distinctive ability to produce pinots that stand out: the east-west traverse of the Santa Ynez Mountains, which funnel marine air and create enviably pronounced diurnal shifts in temperature, and special soils – all buoyed by a talented pool of winemakers drawn by the area’s potential and promise. May the stars align so that WOPN returns as an in-person experience in 2022.

Cheers! 

###

Sense of Place: J. Wilkes Wines Focus on ‘Appellation Expression’

published in the Montecito Journal on 2/11/21

When I launched my wine writing career in Santa Barbara some 20 years ago, Jeff Wilkes was one of the first personalities I came to know. His enthusiasm for the wines he shared with me was infectious. And his energy and sense of humor made him a fantastic wine sipping companion.

Wilkes was a salesman for the iconic vineyards owned by Santa Barbara’s Miller family: Bien Nacido and Solomon Hills, both nestled in the Santa Maria Valley, and French Camp, located in the warmer highlands of Paso Robles. He was a passionate champion of these unique grape growing regions, and, even more, an ambassador for the world-class wines they produced. He launched his own eponymous label, J. Wilkes, in 2001, as a vehicle to spotlight the potential of the Central Coast’s wine growing appellations, and he’d go on to enjoy a successful career as a vintner until his untimely passing in 2010. 

In homage to Jeff Wilkes, the Miller family carried his label forward. It remains part of a varied portfolio of labels that also includes Ballard Lane, Barrel Burner, Smashberry and the newly-acquired Butternut. “Regardless of which of our wines they’re drinking,” director of winemaker Jonathan Nagy told me this week, “we want people to be impressed by the quality of the wine for the price they paid.”

But J. Wilkes stands out for its singular focus: Nagy calls it, “appellation expression.”

Nagy is especially familiar with the Santa Maria Valley appellation, which became recognized by the feds as Santa Barbara County’s first AVA, American Viticultural Area, in 1981. After a stint with Robert Mondavi in Napa, he moved back home to Cambria Winery in Santa Maria in the late 1990s, and he’d go on to spend close to 20 years at neighboring Byron Winery. He joined Miller Family Wine Co. last year.

Sandy soils are key to wine growing in the Santa Maria Valley, and so is the east-west valley created by the Santa Ynez Mountains that give vineyards here “a straight shot to the ocean,” says Nagy. “We have one of the longest growing seasons in the world. We get bud break in February and aren’t picking until October or November.”

In the 20-plus years that he’s been making wine here, “vine age and technology in the vineyard now allow us to maximize quality,” he adds, making the J. Wilkes chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot blanc produced here “more expressive, more concentrated and more complex.”

By comparison, the Paso Robles Highlands, set on the eastern side of  San Luis Obispo County wine country, “has nice elevation and a really good diurnal shift,” says Nagy. “It can get really hot during harvest days – 100 degrees or more – but then at nighttime there’s a 40- to 50-degree shift, and that means that vines can really maintain acidity." Among the J. Wilkes wines grown here: zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon and petit sirah.

I tasted my way through three J. Wilkes wines this week:

·        2018 J. Wilkes Pinot Blanc ($20): refreshing and bright, this white wine from the Santa Maria Valley features green apple and pear notes and a luscious mouth feel. A perfect afternoon quaff and a tasty match for grilled shellfish, salads and mild cheeses.

·        2018 J. Wilkes Viognier ($25): grown in the Paso Robles Highlands District, the aromas on this lovely white wine are alluring: white flowers, nectarines and apricots. Dense and fruit-driven, with honeysuckle overtones, the mild acidity and bone-dry finish make it especially food-friendly – think grilled chicken, lobster and any cheese-and-nuts platter you come up with.

·        2018 J. Wilkes Pinot Noir ($30): a classic Santa Maria Valley pinot, with earthy, peppery and black cherry notes. Just enough ripeness to make it elegant and just enough fruit character to make it delicious. Mushroom tarts, roasted duck and any Brie or mild blue cheese will pair nicely here.

There’s great undercover value with these wines: while various third-patty vineyards are sourced each year for the sake of achieving that “appellation expression,” fruit from those proprietary high-profile vineyards – Bien Nacido and Solomon Hills from Santa Maria and French Camp from Paso, which are regularly featured on labels that two or three times the cost – are regular ingredients in the J. Wilkes wines.

The J. Wilkes tasting room in downtown Santa Barbara is back open. Various flights, wines by the glass, a chocolate-and-wine pairing option and a menu of paninis, salads and cheese boards are available seven days a week, from noon to 7pm. You'll find it inside the Hotel Californian at 35 State Street. Reservations are recommended and masks are required. You can also buy wine at jwilkes.com.

###

Fizzle and Pop: These Santa Barbara Bubbles Will Help You Send 2020 On Its Way

published in the Montecito Journal on 12/17/20

The new three-week stay-at-home order that befell California this month means Santa Barbara County’s wine tasting rooms are shuddered, again. Your own hunt for great local wines to grace the holiday table and end-of-year festivities, though, continues. So keep in mind that, while the deadline for many shipments to arrive by Christmas has passed, there’s still time to order directly from wineries, which desperately need locals’ support, for curbside pickup.

Bubblies will be atop many of our shopping lists, of course, as there’s no better way to usher in a new year – and to send 2020 off with a really good kick in the rear – than the effervescence of a really good sparkling wine.

When it comes to Santa Barbara’s sparkling wine production, Riverbench continues to stand out with its annual release of four unique Cork Jumper sparklers, the handiwork of winemaker Clarissa Nagy. This is the property in the heart of the Santa Maria Valley that planted its first pinot noir and chardonnay vines – primary ingredients in the world’s great bubblies – in 1973. Riverbench really began to take bubbles seriously in 2014, though, when they grafted the county’s very first pinot meunier, still a rarity in California but a long-time darling among producers of the fizzy stuff in France. Riverbench just released their 2017 all-Pinot Meunier Cork Jumper ($68), a super bright and energetic bubbly with dark berry notes, a fresh feel and supple finish. A very limited 92 cases were produced. I sipped this one recently, while popping cold slices of Gala apples and hunks of Dubliner cheese. Yum.

Riverbench’s all-chardonnay 2017 Blanc de Blancs ($48) is an homage to Champagne, with its citrusy flavors and yeasty finish; and the all-pinot 2017 Blanc de Noirs ($48) is a rosé lover’s dream, with deep tangerine flavors and a velvety finish.

The crowning jewel of Riverbench’s sparklers is the 2018 Cork Jumper Cuvée ($68), a vibrant blend of equal parts pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier that’s a real snapshot of the label’s estate vineyards. How does the pinot meunier enhance this bottling? By adding “an interesting austerity to the wine,” Riverbench director of winemaking Laura Booras once told me. “Chardonnay in Santa Maria tends to have really bright citrus fruit character, so pinot meunier might help tone that down some, for the sake of achieving a truly balanced, flavorful wine.” The pop of color and rush of bubbles here is titillating, while the stone fruit aromas and creamy flavors are downright delicious. A real crowd pleaser, even if your holiday crowd is a lot smaller this year.

Order Riverbench bubbly at riverbench.com.

Lovers of bubbles have dozens of other Santa Barbara County options, of course. Norm Yost and his Lompoc-based Flying Goat Cellars label are a pioneer in this arena. Other Santa Barbara County winemakers, including Greg Brewer and the late Chris Whitcraft, had dabbled in bubbles before Yost launched his own line of sparklers in 2005. But Yost gets credit for being the first to make his bubblies an annual endeavor. Currently, he’s crafting five bottlings of Goat Bubbles each vintage, ranging from $40 to $60, and featuring fruit from various top-of-the-line vineyards. Buy them at flyinggoatcellars.com.

The Fess Parker team entered the world of bubbles in 2015 with their Fesstivity label and a quaint destination tasting cabin in Los Olivos known as The Bubble Shack. Their current 2017 Blanc de Blancs, 2016 Blanc de Noirs and 2016 Brut Rosé all feature premium Sta. Rita Hills grapes and are available as a holiday three-bottle gift pack for a discounted $140 at fessparkerwineshop.com.

And a tip of the hat to winemaker Laura Roach, who launched her LouBud label, a play on her childhood nickname, in 2015. Her limited-edition bubblies, made by hand in the Methode Champenoise style, are consistently fresh. Roach announced on social media this past weekend that all her past sparkling wine releases are sold out, except for her new all-pinot noir 2019 Brut Rosé. It’s “delicate and crisp with pretty red fruits and rose petals on the nose,” she writes. “Bright entry of pink grapefruit, Asian pear and croissant dough with a clean, bright finish!” Buy it for $45 at loubudwines.com.

Still looking to sip French?

If it’s not from Champagne, you can’t call it Champagne, so the sparklers that Montecito resident Frank Caterinicchio is importing from boutique producers in Provence are, simply, French sparkling wines. But they are still delicious. At $19, the Domaine du Tix “Des Bulles au Cerveau” (Bubbles in the Brain), made with cinsault grapes, is a phenomenal value. With no added sulfites, it’s racy and refreshing, and the label featuring a cartoon diver blowing bubbles from his breathing apparatus means it’s a conversation piece before you even pour. A metal crown bottle cap, in lieu of a cork, makes it even more fun.

Caterinicchio also has the Effervescence by Domaine Vintur ($28), which is crisp, dry and fizzy and comes in a bell-bottom bottle. “Makes for a great mimosa or Apreol spritz,” he says, although, on its own, it’s palate-cleansing and thirst-quenching.

Provençal Collective, which Caterinicchio, a former political consultant, launched three years ago after a serendipitous trip to France’s southern Rhone Valley, features an exclusive line of organic wines. Find out more in my feature for the Winter 2020-2021 issue of Montecito Journal’s quarterly glossy. To  beat the holiday rush, Caterinicchio is hand-delivering his imported wines throughout Montecito. Order directly from him at provencalcollective.com.

Cheers, and Merry Christmas!

###

A Santa Barbara First: Brewer-Clifton's Greg Brewer Gets "Winemaker of the Year" Honor

published in the Montecito Journal on Nov. 19, 2020

The latest honor for winemaker Greg Brewer is a perk for Santa Barbara County, too: it’s the first time a Santa Barbara-based vintner has been named Winemaker of the Year by the popular publication, Wine Enthusiast.

“The accolade is flattering because my name is on it,” admitted Mr. Brewer in an exclusive interview for the Montecito Journal last week, just after the award was announced.

Me & Greg Brewer at an Aug. 2019 event

“But it’s really Santa Barbara’s award – I really mean that,” he continues. “Wine is a reflection of place – in our case, Santa Barbara and the Sta. Rita Hills. And the manner in which we craft our wines is transparent and vulnerable. So I’m most prideful of that – the fact an award like this elevates our area in people’s awareness around the world.”

Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s Wine Star Awards, now in their 21^st year, honor international wine brands and players across 15 categories, and they are the result of multiple layers of nominations and votes by the publication’s staff. Mr. Brewer beat out four other high-profile nominees from Northern California, Italy and South Africa for the 2020 win. Santa Barbara County was nominated as 2020 Wine Region of the Year, along with Adelaide Hills in Australia, Rias Baixas in Spain and Mendoza in Argentina, all of whom lost out to Trentino, Italy.

Mr. Brewer’s win is a nod to his groundbreaking accomplishments as winemaker for the renowned Brewer-Clifton label, which he launched in 1996 with then-business partner Steve Clifton. Mr. Brewer sold the label to Jackson Family Wines, and stayed on as winemaker, in 2017. “The best years of my career to date,” says Mr. Brewer of his business relationship with the Santa Rosa-based mega-producer, for a blend of support and autonomy that he says allows him to thrive.

But Brewer-Clifton was already a darling among wine buffs by then, with Mr. Brewer crafting multiple world-class renditions of pinot noir and chardonnay each year from select vineyards in the prestigious Sta. Rita Hills. This prime growing region located between Lompoc and Buellton first caught Mr. Brewer’s attention when he left his UCSB job as a French teacher to learn wine production at Santa Barbara Winery in 1991, and it really came into focus when he was hired to develop Melville Winery in 1997. Mr. Brewer was among the team that worked to get federal recognition for Sta. Rita Hills as an AVA, or American Viticultural Area, in 2001 for the unique wine growing conditions created by its geology, weather and soils.

“It all starts with the ocean,” says Mr. Brewer, referencing the unrelenting influence of marine winds that blow east from the Pacific across the region’s 3,000 acres of grapes, creating major diurnal swings in climate that allow Burgundian grapes like pinot and chardonnay to thrive.

“The ocean is the critical thing and, to me, it is both serene and savage, both contemplative and calming but also intimidating and scary,” he continues, in almost poetic fashion.

“The wines in this region channel and demonstrate that duality. There’s something very confident and composed about the wines we’re making here. But there’s intensity beneath, as well – something pent-up and intense and wound-up tight and explosive. It’s that energy that excites me, and it’s that energy in the wine that people love to discover.

“That makes Sta. Rita Hills such a special place. And to be a quiet voice, a steward of that, to get that message out to the world, is such a privilege, professionally.”

The limited-edition Brewer-Clifton wines are made available through two allocations a year, in spring and fall, which can be accessed by signing up at brewerclifton.com.

Mr. Brewer, who left Melville in 2015 and now crafts all his wines at a facility in Lompoc, also makes a line of lean chardonnays under the "diatom" brand and small lots of cool-climate syrahs under the label, Ex Post Facto.

Another first? The Wine Star Award winners, who are usually feted during a lavish affair drawing hundreds of wine enthusiasts in person, will be honored virtually during a three-day online event in January.

###

A Perfect Wine: Santa Barbara Co. Syrah Earns Elusive 100-Point Score

published 10/8/20 in the Montecito Journal

For winemaker Paul Lato, “There’s a really big gap between 99 and 100.”

The celebrated vintner, a Polish native who was a sommelier in Canada before he moved to the Central Coast in 2002, has earned many coveted scores for wines under his eponymous label, along with a fervent consumer following. But 100 points for any wine is as illustrious as it is elusive.

 

As impressive as they are, “getting a 97 or a 98 or a 99 – it still means you’re one of many,” continues Mr. Lato. “A 100, though, means your wine is truly special.”

That makes Paul Lato’s 2018 “Il Padrino” Syrah, for all intents and purposes, the perfect wine. The 100-point score comes from respected critic Jeb Dunnuck, who applauds the wine for exhibiting “everything I look for in a great wine: richness without heaviness, incredible complexity, a singular character, and the ability to deliver both intellectual and hedonistic pleasure.” He goes on to note its “masculine, peppery and gamey” characteristics.

The winemaker offers his own description: “It has ripeness, beautiful blackberry, cherry, with some vanilla and violet flavors. And there are other nuances that open up with decantation and with air, as the wine sits. You get different aromatics and structure. Tannins come up, the fruit changes, and the wine becomes darker in the glass.”

 

The perfect score is a triumph not only for the artisanal Paul Lato label, which is a staple at luxe restaurants like Montecito’s Lucky’s Steakhouse and Santa Barbara’s bouchon, but for the wine’s place of origin, too. Indeed, this marks the first time ever that a wine harvested at Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley has earned 100 points. The legendary vineyard was planted in 1973 by Santa Barbara’s Miller family and remains one of the most sought-after sources in the state for pinot noir and chardonnay, primarily, as well as syrah. Mr. Lato has been contracting syrah grapes from the same specific hilltop block of Bien Nacido for nearly two decades.

 

Paul Lato

“Paul has been a great supporter of our vineyards over the years, and…we’re honored to have Bien Nacido be part of this superb wine,” says Nicholas Miller, VP of sales and marketing for The Thornhill Companies, which, aside from Bien Nacido, also owns Solomon Hills Estate and French Camp vineyards, boutique labels like J. Wilkes and the custom crush facility Central Coast Wine Services. “And I can’t help but echo Jeb’s sentiments when describing the wine: it’s beautiful, concentrated, and powerful without feeling heavy.”

Descriptors from experts and fancy points aside, Mr. Lato says he’s committed to staying humble and to continuing to make wines that are defined, in large part, by where they’re consumed, and with whom. “Many times, a wine will make you turn to your spouse or someone you love, at sunset, with the barbecue on – and it makes you want to say, ‘Honey, life is good,’” he muses. “That can be a perfect achievement, and any wine can become a 100-point wine!”

The 2018 Paul Lato “Il Padrino” Syrah, with a retail price of $90, is sold out. The winemaker expects the price to go up slightly in vintages to come. The bulk of Mr. Lato’s 4000- to 5000-case annual production is vineyard-designate pinot noir and chardonnay wines from throughout Santa Barbara County, which can be purchased through his website, paullatowines.com.  

###

Buellton's Alma Rosa Winery Opens Outdoor "Weingarten"

10/8/20 (as seen in the Montecito Journal)

As California’s guidelines for wine tasting room visitation remain ubiquitously prohibitive, Santa Barbara’s vintners have become increasingly creative, moving much of their guest experiences outdoors. 

I found one of my favorite creative solutions at the Alma Rosa tasting room in Buellton, where the tasting room patio has been reconfigured into an outdoor “Weingarten.”  The space is shaded by umbrellas and features various six-seater tables spaced more than six feet apart, where wine lovers can savor a selection of five wines for $20. Wines can also be bought by the glass. 

Alma Rosa, which was founded by local wine pioneer Richard Sanford in 2005 and purchased in 2014 by Bob and Barb Zorich, produces some of the best pinot and chardonnay in California; I was also impressed by the 2018 Santa Ynez Valley Grenache Blanc ($30) and the 2017 Donnachadh Vineyard Syrah ($68) I tasted during my recent pop-in. 

The tasting room is easy to access: just off Highway 101 and along Industrial Way, right next door to what may be Buellton’s best eatery, Industrial Eats. Hours are Sunday through Wednesday, 11am-5:30pm, and Thursday through Saturday, 11am-6pm. Walk-ins are welcome but reservations are recommended. Check out almarosawinery.com or call 805-691-9395.

###

Grape Recognition: Santa Barbara County Gains 7th Wine AVA

9/1/20: Santa Barbara vintners are celebrating the feds’ decision last week to greenlight the county’s newest AVA, Alisos Canyon.

AVA stands for American Viticultural Area and refers to a region recognized by the federal government for its unique ability to grow quality wine grapes. The distinction denotes pedigree and signals that site-specific factors, such as climate and soils, converge to create a special winegrowing destination. It also allows wine producers who may have used more broad identifiers on their labels in the past – phrases like “Santa Barbara County” or “Santa Ynez Valley” – to more specifically showcase that their wines come from “Alisos Canyon.”

Martian Ranch Vineyard is inside the new Alisos Canyon AVA

This new AVA covers 5774 acres nestled in the Los Alamos Valley, roughly between the Santa Ynez and Santa Maria Valleys. Here, a steady influx of marine air and fog create some of the greatest variation in daytime and nighttime temps on California’s Central Coast, and the soils are primarily weathered sandstone and shale. Well-known vineyards like Dovecote (formerly Thompson), Martian Ranch and Watch Hill call Alisos Canyon home.

Winemaker Wes Hagen, brand ambassador for the Miller Family Wine Co. and the primary petitioner for the new AVA, calls Alisos Canyon a “Goldilocks Rhone Zone” that’s ideal for growing Rhone grapes – reds like syrah and grenache and whites like viognier and roussanne. “They are all going o be fantastic here,” he said in a video release following last week’s AVA announcement, “along with cabernet franc.”

One other topographical feature that makes Alisos Canyon stand out is the fact it’s at end of a 24.5-mile watershed, the San Antonio Creek basin, that stretches out toward the Pacific. Two other watersheds – the Santa Maria River, which leads to the renowned Bien Nacido Vineyard, and the Santa Ynez River, which leads to Ballard Canyon – are equally distant from the shore. “How cool that exactly 24-1/2 miles down these regions we have these beautiful places for growing Rhone varietal wines,” Mr. Hagen adds.

If a new AVA is a boon for vintners who can now highlight a special growing region, it’s an asset for consumers, too. Anyone looking for world-class syrahs or viogniers can now seek out the “Alisos Canyon” nomenclature on a wine label and, by extension, make a more informed purchase.

Alisos Canyon is Santa Barbara County’s 7^th AVA, following Santa Maria Valley (established in 1981), Sanat Ynez Valley (1983), Sta. Rita Hills (2001), Happy Canyon (2009), Ballard Canyon (2013) and Los Olivos District (2016).

###